Institut für nachhaltige und inklusive Entwicklung

Inclusion Strategy

Since 2013, German development policy has been pursuing an inclusion strategy in various fields of action and through diverse measures to promote the inclusion of persons with disabilities in social development processes worldwide.

The Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) is a supreme authority responsible for German development cooperation (DC). German development policy promotes global, sustainable development and thereby seeks to realise human rights, fight hunger and poverty, protect the climate and promote education and gender equality. German development cooperation thus sees the inclusion and equal participation of every human being as an essential element of social development processes.

In order to meet the human rights obligations of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), and in particular Article 32, which explicitly refers to international cooperation, the BMZ has developed an Action Plan for the Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities (2013-2015). The aim of the action plan was to ensure that inclusion and accessibility are systematically anchored in German development cooperation. Equal participation of persons with disabilities is sought at the following levels: In the BMZ institution itself, in cooperation with partner countries, and in cooperation with other actors in international cooperation.

In 2019, the BMZ published an inclusion paper that builds on and further develops the Action Plan. In addition to the UN CRPD, the 2019 Inclusion Strategy also refers to the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which was adopted in 2015. The 2030 Agenda follows the guiding principle of "leaving no one behind" and provides another international reference framework for the inclusion and protection of all marginalised people. The BMZ sees the inclusive implementation of the 2030 Agenda and the firm anchoring of the inclusion strategy as an overall cross-sectoral task in its work. The Inclusion Paper of 2019 is a major effort to promote two approaches: disability mainstreaming in existing structures and in specific measures to strengthen the rights of persons with disabilities, and the consideration of multiple discrimination, especially of women and girls with disabilities. The poor global data situation on people with disabilities is also an important issue that German DC would like to focus on and remedy through its work. 

The picture shows a tree. Its branches form the word "inclusion".

The picture shows a tree. Its branches form the word "inclusion".

Further Literature

The Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development has drafted action plans in 2013 and 2019 that include an inclusion strategy for global, societal development processes.

Article 32 of the UN CRPD - International Cooperation

Action Plan 2013

Inclusion Paper 2019

The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) assumes the task of implementing technical cooperation in development cooperation on behalf of various ministries. In doing so, it also deals with the inclusion of persons with disabilities in the work of German development cooperation organisations.

Study - A human rights-based approach to disability in development

Measurability of practice for the inclusion of persons with disabilities

People with disabilities in refugee contexts